διάκονος

διακονου, ὁ, ἡ (of uncertain origin, but by no means, as was formerly thought, compounded of διά and κόνις, so as to mean, properly, 'raising dust by hastening'; cf. ἐγκόνειν; for the alpha in the preposition διά is short, in διάκονος, long. Alexander Buttmann (1873) Lexil. i., p. 218ff (English translation, p. 231f) thinks it is derived from the obsolete διάκω equivalent to διήκω (allied with διώκω; cf. Vanicek, p. 363)); one who executes the commands of another, especially of a master; a sergeant, attendant, minister;
1. universally: of the servant of a king, Mt 22:13; with the genitive of the person served, Mt 20:26; Mt 23:11; Mk 9:35; Mk 10:43 (in which passage it is used figuratively of those who advance others' interests even at the sacrifice of their own); τῆς ἐκκλησίας, of one who does what promotes the welfare and prosperity of the church, Col 1:25; διάκονοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, those through whom God carries on his administration on earth, as magistrates, Rom 13:4; teachers of the Christian religion, 1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor 6:4; 1 Thess 3:2 R T Tr WH text L marginal reading; the same are called διάκονοι (τοῦ) Χριστοῦ, 2 Cor 11:23; Col 1:7; 1 Tim 4:6; ἐν κυρίῳ, in the cause of the Lord, Col 4:7; (Eph 6:21); ὁ διάκονος μου, my follower, Jn 12:26; τοῦ Σατανᾶ, whom Satan uses as a servant, 2 Cor 11:15; (ἁμαρτίας, Gal 2:17); διάκονος περιτομῆς (abstract for concrete), of Christ, who labored for the salvation of the circumcised, i. e. the Jews, Rom 15:8; with the genitive of the thing to which service is rendered, i. e. to which one is devoted: καινῆς διαθήκης, 2 Cor 3:6; τοῦ εὐαγγελίου, Eph 3:7; Col 1:23; δικαιοσύνης, 2 Cor 11:15.
2. a deacon, one who, by virtue of the office assigned him by the church, cares for the poor and has charge of and distributes the money collected for their use (cf. BB. DD., Dict. of Christ. Antiq., Schaff-Herzog under the word ; Lightfoot's Commentary on Philippians, dissert. i. § i.; Julius Muller, Dogmatische Abhandlungen, p. 560ff): Phm 1:1; 1 Tim 3:8, 1 Tim 3:12, cf. Acts 6:3ff; ἡ διάκονος, a deaconess (ministra, Pliny, epistles 10, 97), a woman to whom the care of either poor or sick women was entrusted, Rom 16:1 (cf. Dictionaries as above, under the word ; Lightfoot as above, p. 191; B. D. under the word ).
3. a waiter, one who serves food and drink: Jn 2:5, Jn 2:9, as in Xenophon, mem. 1, 5, 2; Hier. 3, 11 (4, 2); Polybius 31, 4, 5; Lucian, de merced. cond. § 26; Athen. 7, p. 291 a.; 10, 420 e.; see διακονέω, 2 and διακονία, 5; (also Wetstein (1752) on Mt 4:11).